The 12-Month Deadline for Incomplete Work and Why the Cessation Date Matters

The basic period

Current SIRA guidance states that a claim for incomplete work must generally be made within 12 months after the business failed to start or stopped the work. This is much shorter than the periods commonly discussed for defects in completed work.

The deadline should be treated as a strict project-control item. Notify icare HBCF in writing as soon as the stoppage becomes a concern, and do not wait for the replacement quotation, liquidation process or full defect investigation to finish.

Cessation is an evidence question

The last invoice date, last payment, last confirmed attendance, site diary, subcontractor activity, delivery record and correspondence may point to different dates. A builder may have attended briefly without performing meaningful contractual work, or work may have continued intermittently after a progress claim.

Create a cessation chronology rather than choosing one convenient date. List every known site attendance, task, delivery, inspection and communication around the stoppage. Preserve camera metadata, access records and messages from trades.

Contract status also matters

The physical cessation date and the date the contract was terminated are not necessarily the same. The homeowner may need to issue default notices and allow contractual cure periods before termination. That legal process should not be allowed to obscure the insurer notification deadline.

Obtain specific legal advice where the builder remains technically engaged, an administrator has been appointed or the owner is considering replacement work. A wrongful termination dispute can delay the recovery and complicate the scope.

Do not rely on a later reconstruction

Memories become unreliable and site records disappear. The owner should write a contemporaneous note explaining the last substantial work observed, who performed it and what remained. Ask the certifier, lender, neighbours and consultants for relevant records while they are still accessible.

If the insurer adopts a different date, the chronology provides a basis for explaining why. A bare assertion that work stopped sometime last year is much weaker than a dated sequence supported by documents.

A real dispute about the cessation date

In one matter handled by ARK Houses, the insurer treated the 12-month period as running from the date the homeowner paid the first builder's final invoice, even though physical building work continued after that payment. Evidence of later construction activity was provided, but the insurer maintained its position and a Level 2 review did not resolve the issue.

The homeowner then had to commence NCAT proceedings so that the actual date on which the building work ceased could be examined. What could have been a brief precautionary notification became a substantial dispute about whether the owner was entitled to claim for Incomplete Works at all.

The evidence needed when the insurer selects an earlier date

• the first builder's invoices, progress claims and payment records
• bank statements showing when amounts were paid
• emails and messages describing later work or attendance
• photographs showing construction after the date relied on by the insurer
• subcontractor attendance records and delivery dockets
• a detailed chronology distinguishing attendance from meaningful progress
• witness statements and evidence identifying the last physical work carried out on site A final invoice date, payment date, last attendance and last substantial contractual work may all be different. The safest response is immediate written notification whenever work has stopped, appears to have stopped or has become seriously delayed, even if the owner believes the 12-month period has only just begun.

Practical takeaway: Protect the 12-month period with immediate written notification and a defensible cessation chronology. Do not let uncertainty about the exact day become an excuse for delay.

How ARK Houses can help

ARK Houses can prepare the site chronology, attendance evidence, marked plans and construction records needed to establish what work physically continued and when it stopped. That construction evidence can support the insurer process or a review, while legal submissions and limitation advice remain with the owner's lawyer.

Discuss Your HBCF Documentation